Bound
by Pyrinsomniac
Summary: Gotham swallows her up one night.  Rating high T for subject matter & language.
1. Hard Day's Night

_The hell of it was, she hadn't even been in costume._

When Artemis didn't show up for her first class that day, Dick was intrigued, but not particularly perturbed. In all honesty, he was a little surprised she'd taken to Gotham Academy with as good grace as she had.

When she didn't make it to lunch, his focus sharpened.

When she hadn't made it by the end of the day, and no classmates had mentioned anything about her, okay, yeah, he was a little concerned. He'd have to wait until nightfall to drop by the little apartment, but luckily they had a training session at Mount Justice before then, so he could drop some clever comments so vague that she'd try to take his head off in frustration during sparring, and that was always fun.

But she didn't show.

He wasn't the only one to notice; Aqualad frowned, Kid Flash bounced impatiently, and M'gann wondered aloud where she was.

And when she didn't answer her communicator, okay, yeah, he was definitely perturbed. But at least he wasn't the only one.

"Already on it." Batman reported when contacted, and Robin was the only one to hear the tightness in his voice. "Miss Martian, have you picked up on anything unusual from her lately?"

The girl thought about it, and frowned. "Not... really. She's been a little irritable lately, but not much more so than usual. Not that Artemis is always irritable!" she added hastily, feeling bad about talking about an absent friend.

"Actually, she is." Wally piped up.

"Not when she's laughing. At your expense. Which happens on a regular basis," Robin pointed out. As the others snickered, though, his eyes met his mentor's, and Robin couldn't bring himself to join in.

The Batman had no leads.

The world's greatest detective had no leads on one of his friends.

No, Robin wasn't laughing.

* * *

><p><em>For six years, Artemis had waited for her mother to get out of prison. For six years, she'd endured training with her father, waiting for her mother. For six years, she'd waited to reunite her family. What was left of her family. <em>

_Her mother hadn't been home a day before Artemis realized that Jade had been right. It really was every girl for herself... and that rule was necessary because of her father's presence. And when she heard her mother give him her ultimatum already knowing what the answer would be, splitting the family in the way Paula had never before been able to bear, Artemis realized that it wasn't anger she was feeling (not at the situation, anyway,) or sadness. _

_It was relief. _

_Her father had trained her, true, but it wasn't out of love. The more she thought about it, the more certain Artemis was that her dad was completely incapable of the emotion- or that his version of it was so twisted as to be unrecognizable. No, he was training her so she would be of use to him. The Sportsmaster did nothing out of love. _

_Not like Tigress, who took the fall- in all senses of the phrase- on that last disastrous hit. Not like Tigress, who in six years of prison had never breathed a word of what she'd done or what she knew to the authorities. Not Tigress, who had sacrificed six years for a man who'd abandoned her. _

_Artemis had had six years to think about her mother's choices, six years of the one person who'd ever looked out for her with no ulterior motive locked away. _

_So in the months and weeks before her mother came home, Artemis read. Read about paraplegia, the complications. She knows what pneumonia can do. _

_When Paula got a cold, couldn't stop coughing, Artemis was determined to knock it out early. She listened to her mother's protests, let Paula boss her around a little and brush off Artemis' attempts to take care of her, because the ex- criminal still felt guilty about six lost years. And Artemis could understand that, but she wasn't about to let her mother run herself into the ground out of pride. _

_Paula wasn't the only one in the house capable of emotional manipulation. _

_It was just going to be a quick trip to the corner store, after her mother had gone to bed and wouldn't make a fuss. Yes, it was Gotham, and it was night, but Artemis knows how to handle herself. Grabbing some cough syrup and drops would only take a few minutes. _

* * *

><p>She knows as soon as she starts waking up that it's bad.<p>

Her head is craned back, held in an uncomfortable position by her hair. Her arms are behind her, pulled as close her backbone as they'll go, and the muscles are already screaming. Her legs are tied to separate legs of the chair, and thankfully nothing is pulling at them; but it feels so wrong, so vulnerable, to be sitting with them parted.

It only takes a second to realize her arms have been restrained with her own long blonde hair, and Artemis can't stifle a groan.

This never, ever ends well.

She can't see anything in the pitch blackness, but a creepy chuckle wafts over to her.

And with that one sound, her blood freezes in her veins. That isn't Robin's boyish giggle.

The only person who makes that sound is-

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" he laughs in her ear, and she can't keep herself from a hoarse shout. The blade traces lightly over her exposed throat. "What a pretty, pretty princess. I'm gonna dress you all in red and make a present of you."

"Joker." Artemis says aloud, and it's not flat like she wanted; her voice is shaking.

He slides around in front of her, and she can just make out the garish, pale face, his teeth bared in his signature grin. She closes her eyes, but opens them again, because even if she can't see it's worse if she has no idea where he is.

He presses a little harder, and the knife scores a shallow line across her skin.

"Let's see you smile." purrs the Joker, bringing the blade up. "Smile pretty for the camera!" He flourishes, and spotlights come on.

Artemis screams.


	2. Missing

The alarm wouldn't stop going off.

Paula Crock opened the door to her daughters' room (because even though it had been just Artemis for years now, and Jade was following in her parents' footsteps in all the ways Paula had ever feared, she would always have a home to come back to- even if it was broken,) and wheeled herself in, a reprimand sharp on her lips.

The bed was empty.

Paula slapped off the alarm. "Artemis?"

There was never true silence in Gotham, but the sudden quiet gave Paula the shivers. "Artemis?"

She sped into the kitchen, trained gaze raking the little apartment as it flashed by.

Nothing. Her baby girl wasn't there.

If it was an overreaction, she'd apologize later; but even as she picked up the phone, dialled the number from memory, her escalating dread told Paula it wasn't.

The phone was picked up on the first ring. "Hello?" asked a dapper voice in a cultured accent- _possibly English_, some corner of Paula's mind noted absently.

She didn't waste time with pleasantries. "This is Paula Crock."

"Ah, Ms. Crock. Do you or Artemis require assistance?"

"First, may I know to whom I am speaking?" She may have been well on her way to being frantic, but Paula was never impolite.

"I am an associate of the Batman." she was crisply informed. "What seems to be the trouble?"

Paula's gut clenched again. "Artemis is gone. I last saw her at approximately 10:22 PM, when I sent her to bed, and I didn't hear anything during the night... her alarm went off and," her voice broke, "her bed is empty."

"Was she acting strangely, or did she mention anything unusual?"

"No, there was nothing!" Paula cried, and forced herself to calm down. "She- she's even seemed a little happier, on a bit more even keel, for the past couple of months..."

"I shall look into it, madam." the 'associate' reassured her. "I know it is futile to ask you not to worry; so instead I will ask you to look around your apartment for anything out of the ordinary. Please do not hesitate to ring again should you require anything."

"Thank you," she tells the man sincerely.

"Of course," he replies, and ends with a brisk, "Goodbye."

Paula stares at the phone in her hand for a good minute before snapping herself out of it and returning to the room with the Alice in Wonderland poster on the wall.

* * *

><p>Missing.<p>

This was the conclusion reached by Alfred Pennyworth within two hours of speaking with the mother of Artemis Crock.

She hadn't been seen since 10:22 PM. Ms. Crock rang at 6:10 AM, meaning that the alarm was probably set for 6. Sometime between 10:22 PM and 6 AM, Artemis Crock left the apartment, willingly or unwillingly. She hadn't arrived at school and had not been captured on the surveillance blimps patrolling Gotham at night.

A few of her old friends from Gotham North weren't in school, but it was easily and quickly determined that they were merely playing hooky- and Artemis was not among them.

Alfred sighed. Time to call in the big guns.

* * *

><p>"No, I haven't heard from her," said Oliver Queen, with a hint of concern. "Why?"<p>

"Sometime between 10:22 PM and 6 AM, Artemis went missing," Batman admitted. "I don't expect he'll know anything, but ask Roy if he's seen her."

"I'm still not sure we're on speaking terms," Green Arrow muttered.

"Work it out." ordered the Batman, and hung up on him.

Green Arrow indulged himself with making a face at the phone, but complied anyway.

* * *

><p>The Green and Red Arrows checked Star City. Flash already confirmed she wasn't in Central City. She didn't turn up when Superman swept Metropolis. Red Tornado found no sign of her presence in New York, Batman himself hadn't picked up any clues in Gotham, and no heroes had been contacted, for a ransom or otherwise.<p>

Not good. Not good at all.

Batman had sent Robin out to check on her friends, but they both knew that Alfred's information was solid, and the Boy Wonder had made it quietly but abundantly clear that he did not appreciate doing busywork.

But at least he got to do _something_.

Kid Flash literally vibrates with impatient worry, alternately sitting and trying to calm himself and pacing the entire mountain at superspeed. It's dizzying to watch, even if you're not trying to, but the others gave up trying to get him to stop hours ago. Not even the Flash can return the young speedster to equilibrium.

Black Canary notices Aqualad slip out to the harbor, time and time again, only to return in the futile hope of news. Superboy, Wolf and Sphere are crowded around Megan, providing whatever solace they can; but the Martian is having a tough time keeping herself together. She shudders occasionally, even in Connor's arms, and the memory of the failed training exercise shines in the tears in her eyes.

Their heads snap around at the first stirring of the zeta tubes, and they stay fixated on them even after the computer blandly informs them it's the Arrows. Green Arrow comes through first and heads straight for Black Canary, unusually grim; Red Arrow doesn't look at his mentor as he stalks toward his friends.

"I take it there is no news." Aqualad says dully, dripping water on the floor.

"None." Roy confirms, folding his arms across his chest.

Wally makes a giant, agitated loop of the harbor and mountain in less than a minute and skids to a stop beside the older redhead, sending a burst of wind through the cave. "Maybe- maybe Rob's following up a lead, maybe he's got something."

"I am sure Batman and Robin will find something soon." soothes Aqualad, attempting to preemptively calm things before Red Arrow can say something cutting.

Roy, however, is not in the habit of catering to other peoples' feelings. "Unless she's deserted," he mutters, but Wally hears him.

"What? Why would you say that? She wouldn't." Green eyes are intent on the archer's face, and his words have done what Superboy, Sphere, and Wolf combined could not; Megan is finally distracted.

The young heroes huddle in a loose circle, Miss Martian automatically linking them up. _Red Arrow_- Aqualad warns.

_What?_ the older boy retorts. _Artemis isn't being honest, and now she's missing. The two could be related, and given the information she's had access to-_

_Wait, wait, what do you mean, "not being honest"?_ Wally demands.

_She's not Green Arrow's niece_, Roy informs him bluntly.

_But she has done nothing to merit mistrust_, Kaldur argues. _Robin has not revealed his identity to the team either-_

_But Robin hasn't outright __**lied**__ to us about it._ Superboy folds his arms, looking significantly less than pleased.

_Batman and Green Arrow were both complicit in this lie,_ Megan realizes. _Why would they do that? Why would they intentionally deceive us?_

_Why indeed_, Roy echoes darkly.

_The fact itself that Batman and Green Arrow have lied indicates that there is a good reason behind this,_ persists Kaldur. _They would not endanger us, and they would not do such a thing without a sound basis-_

_Like they lied to us about the League? Like they lied to us about the Watchtower? Like how you're all __**still**__ treated like sidekicks?_ Roy demands hotly. _They wouldn't intentionally hurt you, no, but they're not above playing holier- than- thou and deciding on their own what's "best" for you! Treating you like children-_

_Enough_. Megan says firmly, and the others wince slightly at the strength of that one word. She cringes when all eyes turn to her. _Ah, sorry. Look, until we know why Artemis would lie, why don't we just reserve judgment? I think she's earned at least that much._

Battles flash through their heads, starting with AMAZO; well timed arrows, a flash of green or blonde in the dark, Robin and Artemis explaining to their superpowered teammates what had transpired since they were greeted at the mountain by the Reds, Artemis nailing Poison Ivy with a kick in the head, and, hesitantly and lightly, the palpable devastation in the Bioship after they'd seen her killed in front of their eyes-

Wally chokes, as fleeting as the reminder was, and Kaldur puts a hand to his shoulder.

_What the hell was that?_ blurts Roy.

And so Miss Martian shows him a quick, clinical version; but as distant as she makes it, Wally still droops, and Kaldur and Superboy stand at rigid attention.

_... shit. Sorry_, he apologizes lamely, looking at Wally, who shrugs.

_Let's just give her a chance to explain, okay?_ pleads Megan.

_We must get her back first._ Aqualad points out, but there's steel in his tone.

Roy huffs. _Good luck figuring out how._

Kaldur gives him an unexpected smile. _Batman and Robin are working on it right now, to the exclusion of all else. It is only a matter of time._

Roy is at least not enough of an insensitive jerk to wonder 'aloud' how much, but it weighs heavily on all their minds.

"Black Canary," Connor calls aloud, startling the adults out of a quiet, intent conversation. "Have you heard anything from Batman?"

"No, he hasn't contacted any of us since he had us search our respective cities," she shakes her head, blue eyes sympathetic.

* * *

><p>He's stalked every last one of Artemis' friends from Gotham North, talked to her mother (as she warmed her hands on a mug of tea provided by Alfred, God bless him,) gone over the area around her apartment in first a one, then a two mile radius with a fine- toothed comb.<p>

Artemis is nowhere to be found, but Robin can't bear the thought of going back to the Team without _anything_. So he retreats to the Batcave instead, plugging in to the main computer and keeping Batman's activity in one screen while he works in another.

He writes down everything they know about her life, all her contacts, every villain they've gone up against, all of Sportsmaster and Cheshire's known activity, a log of her brief work as a superheroine.

He goes over it time and time again, but not even Robin's sharp eye can detect any patterns, any relevant connections.

So he wipes that, and instead brings up all of Gotham's villains currently roaming free. Then he creates separate lists from that one detailing which villains Artemis has had contact with, which ones have hunted within two miles of her home, and any with a preference for adolescent girls with long blonde hair.

Batman silently adjusts the lists.

Robin stares. There's one match that sends shivers down his spine. "Batman."

His mentor was already rising when Robin opened his mouth. "We'll have Miss Martian do a sweep of the city," Batman tells him, and the shivers condense into a ball at the pit of his stomach.

* * *

><p>AN: I realize I switched tenses. It was done deliberately; I want the Team's worry to feel immediate, and present tense helps with that. In my opinion, it also helps smooth the transition when I change viewpoints- from the wider here's- what- they're- doing- to- find- her to her friends freaking out a little bit that she's missing. And yes, Batman does agree to bring a meta into his city to look for her, but 1) this is a kinder, gentler (also younger & less experienced) Batman than comic or even older animation canon, and 2) time is of the essence, and Batman knows it. He's not going to let God- knows- what happen to Artemis in deference to his pride, especially when the Joker might be involved.

And, hey! Roy and his yummy arms are here! _We have no quota on sexy archers_.


	3. He Laughs

She's covered in crimson.

He slices her with the precision of a surgeon, lightly gliding the blade through her clothes and just enough skin to draw blood. Joker doodles on her in lines of red, drawing a curly mustache on her face, laughing as he holds the blade in her line of sight and moves it closer and further away.

Artemis is too petrified to even scream. The thought of that knife going in her eye- through the lid-

But Joker laughs and carves long lashes beside those gray eyes, eyebrows going up to her hairline and down to the lower edge of her temple. He draws a big grin on her to match his own, a smiley face on her throat. He outlines her clavicle in red and draws red stripes down her arms, her legs.

Then he removes her boots and socks, falling back on his ass and rolling his eyes. "Boot feet, Rapunzel? Aren't you above such things?" He tsks. "I'll just have to teach you to be a lady!"

"Others have tried, Miss Manners," Artemis blurts out, because he's had her for what seems like days now, and she's already so tired of being afraid.

"Oh ho, she speaks! Hmm," he leans in, snickering, and Artemis does her best not to flinch. "You're special. You know," he twirls the knife in his hand with the dexterity of an artist and whispers conspiratorially in her ear, "when you find a special girl, you gotta let her know."

He peels away, positively howling now, and pulls the denim of her jeans up to her knee. The knife goes deeper than it has thus far, and Artemis can't help but cry out. She can't see what he's doing, but it runs all the way down her lower leg, from the knee to the ankle, and just when she thinks he's done he teases the blade under the skin and _rips_.

There's nothing but pain, pain, pain, and even though she can't hear it Artemis is screaming.

The Joker matches her like a duet, laughing, laughing, always laughing.

* * *

><p>She hangs limply in the restraints, just barely hanging onto consciousness, even if she can't remember the reason why. She's beyond hurting now, or maybe it's just a whole other level of pain, transcendent.<p>

"Poor little thing, all tuckered out?" a voice lilts into her ear, and she feels someone petting her head. "That's all right. Take a little water break!"

It must be an entire bucket of water, invading her nose, her throat. Her sodden hair weighs her down, she can't breathe... everything goes grey.

By the time she struggles back, it's quiet.

Gone?

She looks around, as best she's able. There's no sign of him that she can see, no creepy chuckle.

Now, it has to be now, she realizes dimly. There's no conscious thought left, only training and instinct and a pure, cussed stubbornness that takes over.

The blood and water have loosened things a bit, lubricated the bonds. She shuffles her legs, but they're tied with rope. She tries her arms instead, and the muscles are cramped, don't want to obey her. She forces it anyway and feels something give, just the smallest iota.

It's something to work with.

She'll never know how, but she manages to loosen a hand just barely, just enough to tug.

But it's not giving and he'll be coming back soon, because that's how these things work, and she panics, starts thrashing, and is rewarded with blinding pain in her head and a little more leeway.

She hears footsteps and loses it, gasping and flinging herself away from the restrictions like a wild animal-

-but it's working, it's working, she can move her arms now and she does, yanks them forward even though the muscles are screaming and they don't want to work, grabs handfuls of hair and yanks it away from the chair-

-he's back, he's back, she can see him, running toward her, and he's not laughing now-

-an almighty heave and her torso's free, she's just trapped by her legs and they pull her down, falling gracelessly to the floor still half in the chair.

He's upon her, shouting, but Artemis has movement now and she's not about to lose it. As Joker reaches her she heaves, flips, winds up with her upper body braced against the floor and she flings her lower body upward, still tied to the chair by her legs.

Joker smashes through it, breaking wood and bruising flesh, but it's what she needed. She tangles her legs in his own and trips him up, brings him down atop her, and he's not laughing he's screaming and lashing out with the blades that are really just extensions of his hands-

Artemis grabs a handful of whatever's in range and throws it at him, getting him in the face with warehouse grit and splinters. It buys her a fraction of a second and she takes it, pulling her legs in and thrusting them out in a kick that would do a horse proud.

It gets him off of her, if barely, and she rolls across her back and onto her feet in a crouch.

Joker lunges forward and Artemis jumps to meet him, snagging a bit of the broken chair off the floor. He lashes out with the dual blades, but he moves too soon; Artemis bats the knives aside, gets in close and flows into an elbow strike, then brings the wood down on one of the Joker's wrists and uses her free hand to twist his other one, quick and hard.

He moves with the motion to limit the force she's exerting on his wrist, but the move's done what she needed it to; one knife clatters to the floor, and the other is loose in his grip.

Artemis plucks it out of his hand and immediately returns it to him in a stab; Joker sees it coming and slides aside, but they're so close there's no way she can miss. The knife goes into his side instead of his heart.

He roars and comes at her like a bull; Artemis drops into a low stance and flows to the side, striking at the injury, widening the wound. He's past her now, and Artemis goes for his back.

Joker flings himself backward, startling her-

_because she's been trained and trained well, but he is the Joker, chaos personified_

- and his elbow collides with her jaw before she realizes what's happening. He grabs her by the throat with one hand and punches her in the stomach with the other, and she can't breathe, suffocating, going to pass out-

_she's been trained, and trained well_

- but instead of giving in to unconsciousness Artemis clenches his thumb with her left hand and goes limp, putting her entire body weight on the hand wrapped around his thumb, snapping it; the sound and give of breaking bone are her signal to bury the knife in his elbow. She lands on her feet and drives forward with her stolen blade-

Joker grabs her knife hand, yanks her forward, and knees her in the stomach. Her body automatically curls in, and she uses the opportunity to grab his bad wrist; Artemis can't keep her feet, so she lets herself fall back. Joker, unbalanced with his knee still extended in the strike, is pulled after her. Artemis rolls them and ends up on top, pinches his bad wrist in a way her father had often used on her when she was little, swivels her other wrist to break out of his hold on her knife hand.

Joker bucks and she leaps back, panting. His eyes glitter as he slowly rises.

"Blondes don't have more fun, they _are_ more fun," he chuckles. "Who taught you to dance, Rapunzel?"

She coughs, tastes blood. _Shit._ "Family thing."

His laughter fills the cavernous space around them. "Let's play a game, blondie. Tag! I catch you, I'm gonna make you sing."

"You're not gonna catch me." she vows, murder in her eyes.

He chortles in lieu of a reply and skips toward her, humming. Artemis watches him come, willing her eyes to focus, her limbs to stop their trembling. _Just a little bit longer. Just a few more minutes, just have to hold out a few more minutes-_

_Artemis?_ the voice is familiar and not a little worried.

_...**M'gann?**_

Joker sees her distraction and starts running, laughter trailing behind him like his mangled arm.

Artemis locks down; the world constricts to the knife in her hand and the enemy in front of her. She watches him come, surreptitiously switching the blade from one hand to the other as she settles into her stance.

Joker dives for her like a baseball player going for home, red lips stretched wide in his signature grin. She aims for his neck, manages to rip the side.

Missed. His jugular's still intact and goddammit, the blood loss is getting to her, her vision won't clear and her hand won't stop shaking and her lungs aren't working right and she's going to fall, _is_ falling, on her knees, and she doesn't hear or see the Joker sauntering toward her so much as she feels him.

Dusty shoes stop before her; he crouches, leers, gathers red- stained blonde in his one working hand and arranges it around her neck with a few well- practiced snaps of his wrist. "I'm gonna hang you with your own hair, Rapunzel. Right off the roof here, and maybe if you're lucky, the Bat will be the last thing you ever see."

She's going to die here. She'd hallucinated Megan's voice and she's going to die here, at the hands of this green haired lunatic, and it's lucky he's going to kill her because her dad would _never_ let her live down such a disgrace.

It's not a decision, not a choice. There's no thought to it, no feeling, nothing at all. Just training, and Artemis stripped down to nothing.

She lunges, knife first, and feels it make contact at the same time as he garrotes her with her own hair.


	4. Closer

_**I lost her!**_

M'gann's distress is so acute she forgets to speak out loud, and the entire team winces.

"Report. _Aloud_," Batman orders calmly.

"She... I, I made contact," the Martian girl stammers. "She's definitely hurt, badly I think, and she realized it was me and just shut down. Locked me out." M'gann swallows hard and concentrates on flying so she won't cry, soothing herself in the bond with her bioship.

"Why would she-"

"What do you mean, 'locked out'?" Kaldur asks carefully.

Megan looks at him. "I mean walls. Shields specifically meant for telepaths." She frowns. "Something like that doesn't just materialize; she had to have trained for it, but that doesn't make sense, I've never had a problem establishing a link with her before."

"You said she was hurt." Robin points out briskly. "It's probably a defense mechanism, M'gann."

"How badly-" Wally starts, but Batman cuts across him.

"Did you get a fix on her location?"

"I did, we should be only a couple of minutes."

"This is Gotham." Batman reminds them. "When we arrive, _Robin and I will go in first_. The rest of you are to disembark but stay near the ship and await orders, am I clear?"

"But she's-" protests Wally.

"We don't know who has her, what's happening, or why. Going in half- cocked could very well get her killed. Trust us, KF." Robin says earnestly, turning in his seat to look the speedster in the eye.

Kid Flash mumbles something that sounds very much like, "Only 'cause it's you," but subsides.

"We're here." Megan says quietly.

"Miss Martian, establish a telepathic link but do not try to contact Artemis again. Hover here above the roof."

M'gann makes an opening for them, and Batman and Robin drop silently to the rooftop, vanishing in seconds. The link is unusually silent; they can all feel one another, but no one speaks. They wait, tense, and not even Wally is fidgeting.

_It's Joker._ Robin informs them quietly.

_Surround the warehouse. Guard all entrances and detain him if he escapes, but __**do not engage him unneccessarily**__._ Batman orders. _If you must take him out, do so without him seeing you._

_How's Artemis_? Wally asks anxiously, but neither of Gotham's heroes answer. They all exchange a look of dark apprehension and drop from the bioship, moving smoothly into position; for all of his adamant refusal to join the team, Red Arrow slips into formation with no hitches. Wally is concentrating so hard on keeping himself outside and following orders that he fails to even notice.

There's no sound from inside, no motion; nothing until Robin says, _We got her,_ and Batman has Megan bring the bioship to street level. They cluster around it, waiting.

They only see Batman and Robin emerge from the building because of the glint of light hair in Batman's arms. Wally's beside them in less than a second, but he may as well have saved himself the trouble; he can't move, can't speak, can't think at the sight of that broken body, all the blood and fresh bruises.

The link drops abruptly and M'gann reaches out, placing a trembling hand over Artemis' forehead. Even as Batman barks out a warning her eyes close; two tears roll down the green cheeks. The body rises out of Batman's arms; the girls float into the ship, the others hot on their heels.

Even without Batman's orders, the bioship heads straight for the Watchtower. He barely manages to get the commands in before the ship is hurtling into the dock and ushering its passengers out.

* * *

><p>She can't communicate with Artemis in this state, not exactly. But she <em>can<em> help; and so M'gann reaches out without thinking about it, without realizing that what she's doing is risky and an invasion of privacy and probably not something Artemis will thank her for later.

The other girl's shields are still up, but significantly weakened by her unconsciousness; M'gann gently, easily slips inside.

There's nothing to see here, no mindscape without a consciousness awake to create it, so M'gann lets go of the illusion of vision and concentrates on feel alone.

_Raw_. Raw, hurting, and vaguely, distantly ashamed. Artemis hadn't been in a good place when she'd lost her battle to stay awake.

_Oh, Artemis_.

The bond with her bioship is a permanent one, deeply binding; a thrum of concern pulses through. The ship likes Artemis, simply because M'gann does, and because the living vessel tends to become fond of frequent passengers. M'gann accepts the comfort, uses it as strength, passes that strength, that _love_, to her friend.

She doesn't even realize it when they rocket into the Watchtower, through the much- expedited process of docking. The next thing M'gann registers is her uncle, next to her in Artemis' mindspace but cloaked from the human's perception, in his Martian form and _distinctly_ unhappy.

_M'gann. Let us go._

_Uncle J'onn_, she pleads, _she needs me. Her mind-_

_- is her own._ J'onn counters sternly. _Humans are very different from us, M'gann, especially private ones like Artemis. She is incapable of giving consent to your presence right now, and her life is no longer in immediate danger. Your devotion to your friend is admirable, but this is not the proper way to express it._

M'gann droops in disappointment, and Manhunter exudes slightly exasperated fondness. _Your other friends need you too, M'gann. Come._

She wordlessly assents, and they return together.

* * *

><p>Someone- maybe Connor, maybe her uncle- has led M'gann to a comfortable waiting area, where she's floating near a corner. She blinks back into the world, feet settling on the ground, and Robin is the first to glance over.<p>

"Welcome back."

Wally skids to a stop in front of her, so fast that if it weren't for the wind, she might have thought he'd teleported. "What'd you see? How's Artemis? Did she say anything-"

M'gann throws up her hands to forestall the rapid- fire questions. "She wasn't awake, Wally, so I wasn't able to talk to her or see anything. I just- I just wanted her to know we were there. She's hurting right now..." Her voice trails off as all of them droop at the reminder.

Wally flings himself into a chair beside his best friend, jiggling a leg. "Rob, why would Joker even take her? Does he know who she is?"

"I don't think so." Robin sighs. "I think he just snatched her off the street."

"But why would she have been in Gotham in the first place?"

Robin hesitates.

"Maybe she lives there." volunteers Red Arrow, from where he's lounging against the wall.

Artemis' secrets hang heavy over the room, stifling any further conversation.


	5. Ache

The first thing Artemis is aware of is _aching_.

All over her body, but her heart is heavy too; something must've gone wrong, she must've messed up again, and she knows she doesn't want to wake up. So she lets herself drift a little longer, allows herself this small luxury. It's not like she's in a state to do anything about it if things are bad out there.

But she can't stay like that forever, and in spite of herself, Artemis starts waking up. Little things register first.

The stale, sterile smell of a hospital. Constant sound, familiar voices; someone is always there talking to her, even if she doesn't try to pinpoint just who it is. Comforting touch; her hand is held more often than not, and someone keeps stroking her hair. She feels soft pressure against her arm sometimes.

And there's a relentless tugging, a plea for her to _wake up_.

It's been a long time since Artemis has felt like she matters, and in the end she can't resist that siren call; it overcomes the foreboding lurking further back in her head.

She blinks open her eyes to the bland walls of the Mountain's medical bay. A cry of joy draws her gaze to the side, and Artemis is met with her mother's relieved face. For a moment, anyway; Paula leans forward and wraps her arms around one of her daughter's, burying her face against it, and Artemis absently realizes that the soft touch on her arm must've come from her mother resting her head there.

"Ma," she breathes.

Paula lifts her head, crying. "Artemis! _I was so worried_," she says in Vietnamese. "_What happened, why did you leave?"_

Artemis responds in the same language. "_I'm sorry, Mom. I was only going out for a minute." _

_"Why?"_ Paula demands. "_It was the middle of the night! What was so important-"_

_"I went to get cough drops."_ Artemis mutters, dropping her gaze. "_It was only going to take a few minutes, but... but Joker was there, he got me from behind. I'm sorry, Mom, I'm so sorry, I was careless, I let my guard down-"_

A firm hand on her arm. When Artemis meets her mother's eyes, they're as steely as Jade's had been the last time she'd seen her sister; Artemis is abruptly reminded that her mother is not a typical ex- con. "_You have __**nothing**__ to apologize for."_ Paula tells her firmly. "_Joker has taken out people much more experienced than you, and left others in a far worse state. You did well."  
><em>

_"I didn't."_ Artemis demurs, fighting back tears. "_I tried to kill him, Mom. But I didn't, did I?"_

_"No. But you did hit him hard with your last attack,"_ Paula crisply informs her. "_You collapsed one of his lungs. He's in critical condition; he could die yet. You also injured one of his arms to the extent that although it will heal, it will never be the same. Meaning you've given him a handicap, however slight."_ Artemis sees Tigress in her mother's smile, the glint in her eyes as she proudly regards her daughter. Paula presses Artemis' hand in both of her own. "_Honey, you did well. I'm so proud of you. I'm just glad you're back, that you're here, that you'll recover. And in a relatively short time, too. Your injuries were not extensive."_

_"What exactly is wrong with me?" _

_"You did have some internal injuries, and that worried us."_ The weariness that's settled onto her mother's features since her incarceration reappears. "_You had to have surgery. But it went well, and as long as you take it easy for a couple of weeks you'll be okay. The Justice League did something about the cuts, you won't scar. Well, except for the leg." _

"The- the League?" Artemis echoes, stunned.

_"Yes. It was your friends who found you,"_ her mother tells her.

Artemis looks around, only now paying any attention to her surroundings. "_I'm- I'm back in Mount Justice. Mom-"_

_"When you weren't in your bed-"_ a stern glance tells Artemis she'll be hearing about that later- "_I called a number the Batman gave me. They started looking for you immediately, and when they hadn't found you by the time you were supposed to be training with your team, your friends joined the search."_

_"'They?'"_

Paula shrugs. "_An 'associate' of Batman's. A very nice man. He stayed with me while they were looking for you. When they found you, they took you to the Hall of Justice for treatment; when you were discharged, they brought you here, and brought me to you shortly afterward... but your friends can tell you more about that. They'll be very glad to see you're awake. Especially that Kid Flash,"_ and she grins.

Artemis, on the other hand, goes rigid. "_They- do they know-"_

Paula sighs, with the same disappointed hurt she'd had on her face when Artemis had given Batman and Green Arrow her condition for being on the team. "_No, Artemis. They don't know your family history. All they know is that I'm your mother. I haven't exactly been interacting with them- with anyone- very much." _

_"I'm sorry to have worried you,"_ Artemis murmurs, looking away.

"_We'll talk about that later."_ her mother tells her. "_For now, let's just concentrate on getting you better. Do you need anything? The bathroom?"_

_"... yeah." _

_"Think you can make it on your own?"_

Artemis sits up gingerly, putting a cautious hand on her stomach when she feels what can only be the surgeon's handiwork. _Internal bleeding,_ she decides clinically, and puts it from her mind. She won't be thinking about the Joker for a long, long time, not if she can help it.

Instead she makes her slow, careful way to the bathroom, with her mother rolling alongside, hovering as best she can. By the time she makes it back to her bed, Artemis is as bone- tired as she's ever been in her life.

"_Sleep, baby."_ her mother orders gently, brushing hair back from her face as Artemis gratefully closes her eyes. "_Sleep now, and when you wake up, your friends will probably be here."_

Friends. Real, actual friends, not just teammates. Artemis falls asleep with a smile.

* * *

><p>AN: I'm sure all of you picked up on this already, but: "_Italics in quotes are a foreign language (not English.)" _

_Italics without quotation marks denote telepathic conversation or thoughts._

Paula assumed Artemis was taken to the Hall of Justice for treatment- she doesn't know about the Watchtower- and nobody corrected that assumption. And while Paula _has_ interacted with the kids, it's been pretty perfunctory, because of course her priority is her daughter. I'm writing her a little more open than I suspect she'll be in canon, but if that's the case I can always say it's the worry talking.

I decided not to have Artemis kill Joker for several reasons, but y'all can choose for yourselves whether it was inexperience (because while she's been trained extensively I got the impression from the associated comic that Artemis didn't go into the field until August), injury, or the hero in her that kept ole green- hair alive. Batman went to the Watchtower with the Team- mostly because he was giving Artemis what little treatment they could in the field, and because he knew Robin was freaked out (though our favorite little bird is too professional to let it show,) and Bats still feels bad about the Exercise- and called the cops out to the warehouse to pick up Joker. Again, this is a younger, less hardened version of Bats; he prioritized Artemis and the Team, and he'll deal with the consequences of that choice later. Well, Batman or someone else- because who wants to bet that Sportsmaster keeps abreast of what's happening with his family, if for no other reason than to cover his own ass?


	6. Sweet Dreams

The next time Artemis wakes, it's to the sound of several familiar voices in soft conversation. Someone is holding one of her hands, and she can sense another presence on her other side, the mattress dipping under someone else's weight.

"Artemis." Her mother's voice is quiet, slightly amused. "I know you're awake, baby."

"Mmph." she replies, scrunching her nose.

Robin's characteristic cackle sounds off somewhere to her left. Not a second later someone's tickling her feet through the blankets, and someone else has taken a lock of her hair to tease across her nose. Artemis snorts herself upright and glares at Wally and Robin, who retreat to a safe distance as soon as her eyes snap open and lean on each other as they laugh. Before she can decide whether beating them is worth getting out of bed, M'gann has flown over, beaming, and latched on in a persistent, if gentle, hug. "Artemis! We were so worried, we've been waiting for you to wake up for _days_-"

"It is good to see your eyes again." Kaldur smiles. Connor nods from where he's lounging against the wall; Wolf pops up beside her mother to place his front paws on the bed and give her cheek an enthusiastic lick, not looking the least bit offended when she grimaces at his doggy breath and uses the sheet to wipe her face. Black Canary smiles quietly from a chair near the other side of the door, next to none other than Red Arrow, who looks- well, the same as ever, if _slightly_ less sulky.

A momentary silence descends; before it can get unbearably awkward, Red Arrow takes matters into his own blunt hands. "So how'd Joker catch you in the first place?"

Artemis freezes. Black Canary sighs and elbows him; the rest of her team looks at her expectantly, and Artemis swallows hard. M'gann puts a hand to her shoulder and looks down at her with sympathetic eyes.

Finding it impossible to look at the rest of them, Artemis casts her gaze to her lap and her fisted hands. "I wasn't expecting it... he came up behind me and..."

"Why were you in Gotham?" Red Arrow's tone is neutral, but she can feel the others' eyes on her and she's never hated anyone more. Artemis draws her knees up to her chest; she feels trapped, and not being able to run weighs on her, the shadow of being tied to that chair lurking in the back of her head. She can almost hear his laugh, that ungodly dark chuckle-

-no, she's not thinking about it, focus, _focus_. Daddy taught her better than that, she has better discipline than this. What was the question again?

"... I live there." she admits quietly to her knees.

They wait a beat for her to elaborate; when she doesn't, it's Robin who prompts her. "Artemis."

"My... my dad is..." Oh God, she can't do this. Artemis punches her bad leg in frustration. "_Dammit_!"

Before anyone can move, before most of them even realize what happened, Paula's grabbed Artemis' wrist in one hand, slightly lifted her arm, and poked her hard in the armpit. The arm immediately has all the dexterity of a limp noodle. "Artemis!"

"Ow." Momentarily distracted, she scowls at her mother. "_Bit of an overreaction, don't you think?_" she asks in Vietnamese.

"_No._" her mother scowls right back. "_I'm not going to let you hurt yourself. Especially not after what just happened. It's also rude, you know, when all of them put so much effort into getting you back and were so worried about you."_

Artemis bites her lip, and Paula's face softens. "_Artemis, they are your friends. They'll understand." _

_"And what if they don't?"_ Artemis counters.

_"They will. And you'll feel better after telling them, anyway. Keeping secrets is exhausting._" Paula gives her daughter a steely- eyed stare. "_I would know."_

_"Fine."_ Artemis sighs, then, "M'gann?"

"Yes?" the Martian asks uncertainly.

Artemis looks straight at her and projects her thoughts. _Is it possible to lie to you telepathically?_

_Probably, at least for someone with enough experience and powerful enough shielding,_ M'gann replies slowly, _but it would be difficult and I would probably know. It would be easier to try to keep me out altogether. I've never tested it. Why?_

_Could you link us up, please? I don't think I can say this out loud._ Artemis' eyes drop to her knees; she fists the sheet in her one working hand.

Miss Martian's eyes glow.

_Artemis? What is going on?_ Kaldur takes a step toward the bed, his usual calm morphing into concern.

_I... I'm not Green Arrow's niece._ She still can't look at them.

They wait.

_And... my mom's not the first member of my family that you guys have met._

_Then who-_ starts Wally, only to be shushed by Robin, who's watching Artemis intently.

Artemis raises her head, looks at Wally. _My sister tried to kill you._

M'gann is much faster to process this than their resident speedster, who just looks stunned. _Your sister is... Cheshire?_

_Yeah. And my dad-_ she takes a deep breath- _my dad's Sportsmaster._ Grey eyes hold green. _He's the one who trained me._

_Why didn't you tell us?_ Kaldur and Connor ask simultaneously, but where Kaldur sounds neutral, Connor's tone is anything but.

_I..._ she closes her eyes hard, swallows back tears. _Would __**you**__ want to admit that your dad's Sportsmaster? Everything I do is automatically suspect. I just... I just wanted this one thing. I wanted to do something __**good**__ with what he taught me, and yeah, maybe I wanted to throw it in his face. That I'm __**not**__ like him._ Her knuckles are as white as the sheet in their grasp. _I'm not gonna do what he wants me to._

_And what does he want you to do?_ Robin inquires.

_Exactly what you'd expect._ she snorts, gaze snapping to the Boy Wonder. _He was training me to take orders, probably to join the Shadows myself._

_When did this training end?_ Kaldur puts a hand to Superboy's shoulder, trying to calm him down; Connor shrugs it off, but keeps his temper in check.

_In August, when Mom got out of prison._

_What... what was she in prison for?_ It's the first time Wally's spoken since Artemis dropped her bombshell, and she's grateful that he's not angry. Not yet, anyway.

_Mom and Dad both used to work for the League of Shadows._ she tells them, and even her mental tone is so quiet they have to strain to pick it up. _Their last job went bad; there was a fight, and Mom... Mom fell..._ she falters, and Wally casts a sharp glance at Robin, whose lips have gone tight. _After we knew she was gonna make it, they went ahead and pressed charges. Mom pled guilty in return for a reduced sentence. They moved her straight from the hospital to the pen. Jade left that night._

_How old were you?_ Robin wants to know.

_Ten._

Before anyone quite realizes what's happened, the medbay is overlaid with the ghostly image of a shadowy bedroom; it makes their heads ache looking at it, but when Wally tries closing his eyes, the memory is playing out behind his eyelids. They hear Artemis pleading with her sister, Jade's voice answering back.

_"I'll disappear... like the Cheshire cat."_

Little Artemis hadn't cried. She sank to her knees, clutching her bear, eyes cast downward; but she didn't cry, because Crocks don't cry. Artemis didn't even feel like sobbing, didn't feel the grief; there was a strange, hollow numbness.

The memory cuts off abruptly.

_Sorry, I'm sorry-_ two voices clamor, as both girls on the team apologize. Both sound close to tears, but when the boys look, only M'gann is actually crying; Artemis stares at her knees with a scarily blank look on her face, and Robin recognizes it with a dropping sensation in his stomach.

That's the same expression he saw in the mirror after the Exercise. It's the same expression he saw after his parents' death, that he sometimes sees on Batman after a particularly hard call, the same yawning emptiness that Artemis had felt the night Jade left.

Wally looks torn but it's M'gann who takes action, floating above the sickbed and curling around her friend, resting her head on the blonde's shoulder. Robin is the next to move, standing at the head of the bed and putting a hand to the shoulder not claimed by the Martian; Paula, settled further down near her daughter's hand, gives the Boy Wonder a grateful look.

* * *

><p>In the days between Artemis' awakening and being declared fit for zeta- tube travel, the entire Team stays in the mountain.<p>

Between school and the "Dynamic Duo thing," as Wally calls it, Robin is constantly running in and out of the Cave, and it's anyone's guess as to how he can keep it all straight and maintain his dual lives. But the Boy Wonder earned his title, and he manages somehow- Robin usually comes in later than the others, but at some point he always winds up sacked out in the medbay with the rest of them, and it _has_ to be Robin who keeps pushing the beds together when they're asleep, because who else could do it without being caught?

It doesn't do to look a gift horse in the mouth, though, because however the individual beds become one giant bed in the middle of the night, it's the one thing keeping them from having nightmares. Paula realizes this, and it is for this reason that she doesn't push for Artemis to come home sooner, even after Paula herself senses that she's reached the end of her welcome and allows the League to remove her from the base. In the nights preceding her departure, Paula witnesses the beginning of several nightmares- usually Artemis and Kid Flash (who, despite the disapproval of every adult present, grinned at her and told her to call him "Wally" before pressing her for embarrassing stories about Artemis)- but Megan the Martian will furrow her brow, and the others will settle down. Or Robin will snuggle up to the one having trouble, and they will calm; Kaldur is rarely present (though he never left the base when Artemis was unconscious, and took over Paula's vigil whenever she needed a break,) but when he _is_ there, the reserved Atlantean is surprisingly casual about putting a hand to the shoulder of a teammate whose sleep is less than peaceful. Paula has never seen his touch fail to soothe.

His presence, too, is a balm in and of itself. She finds herself talking to this boy, telling him much more than she'd originally meant to but somehow unable to regret it. She recognizes it now, that tone in Artemis' voice whenever she talked about the team leader, the soft, grateful look in her eye whenever she mentioned Aqualad. Paula is glad Artemis has found a brother, glad that Kaldur is looking out for her little girl.

Even Connor, the standoffish Superman lookalike, curls up with the rest of them at night. M'gann forms a bridge between him and the others, holding his arm like a teddy bear, head tucked against his shoulder. Wolf usually takes up a position at their feet, ears pricked even in sleep, great golden eyes opening whenever a noise catches his attention.

And Wally, the bright boy with the sparkling green eyes (oh, Paula can see why Artemis is so taken with him, this speedster who never stops talking,) only slows down when he's asleep, sprawled out among the others. It makes Paula smile to see him, always between Robin and Artemis no matter where he starts the night, never jostling her daughter's injuries no matter how restless he becomes. Sometimes when she knows she is the only one awake, Paula can't help but brush the hair back from his brow; she has forged a connection with Kaldur, M'gann is as eagerly friendly as a puppy, and she and Robin have an understanding, but Wally is special to her. He addresses her as "Artemis' mom!" often as not. She, stuck in the chair, admires and envies his free movement; in his turn, Wally is careful to pay attention when they have a conversation. She can see why Artemis is so drawn to him (and Paula sees where this is going, even if Artemis refuses to,) but spending some time with the redheaded boy reassures her. He'll be good for Artemis- draw her out, challenge her a little. Artemis will be good for him; steady him, help him grow.

Knowing that Artemis is in the care of these extraordinary boys and girl is the only way Paula is able to make herself leave; unexpectedly easing the transition is Alfred's new habit of calling, checking up on her and occasionally dropping by for tea. In his own way, he's as calming as Kaldur, and Paula can't help but look forward to the impromptu visits.

She knows it won't be easy. She dreads the day Artemis has to face Sportsmaster in the field (because it's coming, she can feel it coming,) and from what little information her long- dormant network and Alfred are able to give her, something big is brewing. Her mother's instinct wakes her up at night sometimes in a cold sweat, terrified for Artemis or Jade or both. But then she will remember the way the teenagers looked, all piled together like puppies, taking solace from one another; Paula remembers the sharp, uncompromising competence of both Alfred and Batman; she lays her hand on the knife she keeps under her pillow and the pistol in her bedside drawer, and she is able to go back to sleep.

* * *

><p>AWKWARD ENDING IS AWKWARD.<p> 


End file.
